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>> the charge event had been hoping to celebrate the recently established peace. >> that explosion in pakistan's largest city killed at least six people. police say a motorcycle bomb exploded close to a political rally. more than a dozen people have been taken to hospital.

also in pakistan, a group of teachers and workers have been killed in a drive-by shooting. the gunman attacked their bus killing six women and one man. all of them are pakistanis. a deal to cushion america's fall over the fiscal cliff has run into opposition in congress. republican members and house are now considering a bill that would avoid tax rises for most americans. john is live for us in washington. we understand there has been some movement there in capitol hill. >> with the asian stock markets due to open in about an hour, there has been a little bit of movement here. the house is trying to vote on a bill that was passed in the upper house of the senate in the early hours of new year's day which avoids the fiscal cliff. the house has a problem because many members of -- are unhappy

with the deal. what is happening at the moment is that the speaker of the house of representatives, john boehner has basically given his republican membership to choices, either to go ahead and vote on an amendment to the senate bill passed in those early hours, or to go for a straight what they call up and down vote which means members vote as they see fit. the feeling among democrats is that there are enough republicans and house to join with them to make sure it passes so that president obama can sign it into law. we are waiting to hear what kind of vote and if there will be a vote. they convened here this morning at about midday. that is now seven hours ago. i think what we are seeing as about seven hours of printing from republicans in the house. i am hearing that people are softening their stance again, giving up on the idea of amending the senate bill and

going for a straight up or down vote. it remains to be seen whether it actually advances. >> the amount of political bickering is extraordinary. >> it is political bickering. we have had seven hours of that and the feeling is that it is dying down zero little bit. eric cantor is the majority leader in the house. he is a very senior republican politician. he is a driving force in the party and he sticks with speaker of the house john boehner. he said i do not support it. that is different from john boehner, who think would rather get this bill done and move on to the next battle. the republicans feel more confident about the battle over raising the debt ceiling of the

united states. an image of would leave you with is that although there is a split between these very senior republican politicians in house, they did go into their latest meeting about two hours ago absolutely side by side. the congressman here i was talking to said it was an optical display of unity. the iranian prime minister has offered to release more than 700 female prisoners. the rallies are accusing his government of unfair treatment. >> hundreds of thousands of people in sunni provinces have been protesting for almost two weeks. they said the government discriminates against them. now the prime minister is threatening to end the

demonstrations by force. >> i want everyone to turn a blind eye to this issue and against -- do not tell me it is a national issue, because it is clear that is a rotten one. it has wrought in slogans and is accompanied by rotten practices. i am not concerned because it is only hot air. your voices have been heard and enough is enough. >> is a warning that may lead to an odd conversation. critics of the prime minister say he is sending iraq in the wrong direction. >> with arabs and kurds already against him, the prime minister also faces some of his former allies turning against him. a powerful shi'ite cleric supports them. >> the protest will continue as

long as the politicians follow closely to preserve their own interests. the politicians should work for the people, not for their own interests. the people have to call for their rights. i said earlier, the arab spring is coming and iraq's spring will come soon, too. >> it started the same way the last one did, with a political crisis with the sectarian flavor. >> now to the conflict in syria. heavy fighting in the city of aleppo has forced its international airport to close. the syrian government accuses rebels of targeting syrian aircraft. fierce fighting continues in the capital. this video is said to show the aftermath of an air strike in damascus. activists say government forces have stormed the area trying to claim it. there are reports of intense fighting in a neighborhood that

is home of about 150,000 palestinian refugees. >> seven people were killed today at this camp as the result of shelling and sniper fire. there are still ongoing street battles as the army fighters are trying to invent -- prevent the invasion by government forces to the camp. >> tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than half a million others have fled the country. turkey has taken 148,000 syrian refugees. many are living in camps near the border. to the south, 170,000 syrians have crossed to jordan. this report from southern turkey. >> her life was shattered by violence after her husband was

tortured to death. she and her seven children were among the first refugees to leave syria for turkey. the family has been in exile in iraq for many years. that only returned after president bashar al-assad succeeded his father in 2000. confident that democracy would be established under his rule. now she has turned against the syrian president. >> our future depends on getting read of bashar al-assad. if he stays in power, we will not have a future. he has destroyed us, and now our children are paying the price. >> there were forced to leave when government forces stormed their villages. the cross into syria every now and then to help people stranded along the border. >> that situation is tragic.

no water, no medicine. i have not seen aid agencies reaching these areas and the numbers are starting to increase. >> how can people survive under such circumstances? >> not far from here, the violence brand -- grinds on. those who are already here are forced to wait to be reunited with their loved ones. there are high hopes among the thousands of syrian refugees in turkey that peace and stability will finally prevail in 2013. then they can go back home. but they insist that president bashar al-assad and his regime should be excluded from any political deal. >> hundreds of soldiers in several african countries have been to the -- a military

contingent is the latest to arrive. the government has already made an offer to share power but so for the rebels have not responded. the nicaraguan president has held public prayers for venezuelan leader hugo chavez. he is in the hospital following surgery for cancer. he is said to be in stable condition. he has not been seen in public since arriving in cuba three weeks ago. we have more from caracas. >> the announcement was made by the vice-president that chavez was suffering from complications. some of the government ministers came out to quell some of the speculation that is going on about the president's health.

his son-in-law set from havana that he spent monday stable and spent it with his daughters. he asked all venezuelans to ignore some of the ill intention rumors that are going around in this country. on monday, all official celebrations in caracas were canceled, replaced it -- replaced by a small gathering put in place by ministers here where people heard speeches and they also prayed. the event was called now more than ever with chavez. the big question is whether he will be able to match -- make it back here by january 10. if the president dies, elections should be held within 30 days but there is speculation about what will happen if the president is alive and does not make it on time. the government says they can be postponed, while but opposition says that is unconstitutional and tha

>> welcome back. a reminder of our top stories here on al jazeera. people have been killed in ivory coast at a traveling at a football stadium. they were watching the new year's fireworks display. a large explosion in pakistan's big city have let people dead. it was a political rally.

a deal to avert the so-called fiscal cliff has run into opposition in the republican controlled house of representatives. indian prosecutors will seek the death penalty for five men accused of gang-raping a 23- rolle woman. the victim died from her injuries after being raped and beaten on a bus last week. protests have been going on in the capital of new delhi since then. >> people do not know how to treat each other. parents tell their daughters to be bold, get educated, go out and see the world, but they do not tell the sons how to behave with women, even their own sisters, and take them for granted. how will avoid respect any woman? >> india has an ambitious scheme to put cash directly into the hands of millions of people living in poverty. that plan to hand out $68 billion across the country by

the end of the year. opposition party said the government is just bribing voters ahead of next year's election. the world bank says about one- third of all indians live in poverty. that is around four hundred million people. >> it is great scheme for the poor, common man that will prove beneficial to all. they will get their rights directly. >> whenever there are elections, the government thinks these kind of schemes can lure the people, but how will it be launched at the grass roots? no such plan has been done by the government. it will be a failure as soon as it is launched. >> more than 300 children in pakistan died from measles in 2012, according to the world health organization. that is most predict that is almost five times as many as the year before. hundreds of those deaths were

in december alone. the effort to rebuild haiti after its devastating earthquake three years ago has been slow. more than 350,000 patients are living in temporary housing and now a lot of their aid money is about to dry up. >> it was the worst day imaginable. a monstrous earthquake laid waste to the haitian capital of port-au-prince and left thousands of casualties in its wake. the country needed help quickly, and on a scale to match the devastation. in washington, president obama called his two predecessors and told them to raise money and see that it was spent on directly helping haitian recovery. the raise more than $50 million, but under u.s. law, the bush- clinton fund for haiti had just under three years to do its work, and that time is now over. >> it is drop in the bucket for what haiti needs, but it is an important demonstration effect, especially across the sectors

that we tried to energize. >> those include farming, building houses, and lending to the poor. hear, a newly built luxury hotel that supporters of the project say haiti badly needs. owners say they are training hotel workers and hiring lots of local people. x those people were in the streets. today, men and women are going to school, and getting a profession. >> at this construction company, the emphasis is on earthquake resistant buildings, built by haitians, yet not everyone thinks the bush does clinton approach, small amounts of money invested mostly in small businesses, have been the right fix for a country with so much damage not repaired, so many still without homes or jobs. the situation is critical. we need 2 million more homes.

giving the money to middlemen here and in the u.s. is not right. more than $7 billion in aid has already been spent, it many haitians still live in squalor. studies say too much money goes on high for and salaries and administration. the clinton-bush funds may have been small and occasionally questionable, but the money usually got to intended targets. this approach might soon be missed in this devastated land. >> buyers in the south african shantytown have left people homeless -- fires have left people homeless. three people died and another suffered serious burns. a new law that makes beer harder to buy have come under report in russia. it has been changed from a food

to an alcoholic beverage. beer commercials on tv are also banned. there are a stricter laws restricting the use of cannabis in the netherlands. the shops sell marijuana and hashish legally. the north korean leader has given a surprise new year's eve address to the nation and a shift in rhetoric. he said the two koreas should be reunited. >> these fireworks were rare treat, but according to the country's new leader, kim jong un, 2012 was a historic you are worth celebrating. there was a successful rocket launch in december. he spoke also of the need to improve relations with south korea.

the message was more conciliatory than in previous years. but this year, the entire nation should unite in opening a new chapter for the unification of our fatherland by engaging in patriotic reunification. >> he criticized conservative groups. it had been an element of past new year's day speeches. >> the always make improvements of relations and issues of aid all kinds of monetary financial support. >> the celery and position is that the speak -- south korean view is that it offered nothing new.

she is willing to take a less hard-line approach with the predecessor -- than her predecessor. >> thai authorities said they provided fuel and food to refugees found adrift off the coast. they say they are trying to reach malaysia to escape persecution in myanmar. taiwan refuses to accept refugees who arrive by boat. more on our series looking ahead to the big issues of 2013. in china, new leadership faces a challenge of maintaining growth without overheating the world's second-largest economy. signs of growing property bubble are causing concern.

>> it is the big economic fear for the coming year, but no amount of seasonal dressing up can hide it. a slowing economy and a huge oversupply of new buildings, leading to a possible bubble that could burst. this has been touted as the country's manhattan, with nearly 50 skyscrapers under construction. but signs here. to an economy that is running out of steam. >> many others have stopped work because they have run out of money. many workers have not been paid because their construction site has shut down. it is a common problem. >> creating prosperity at any cost has long been the guiding principle for the chinese leadership. the fact that it has managed to achieve it so far has created issues. when power is conferred on the

new politburo in the spring, all sides will be on how they manage the economy, on which the aspirations of millions depend. in this town, property agents descend on buyers, many from nearby beijing, driven away from the capital by record prices. peri paid about $1,000 u.s. fo square meter. >> projects like this, still in reach of families fulfilling their urban homeowner dreams. >> i think the real estate market will keep growing, but not very fast, because the government is still conscious of the potential global. >> they are trying to stop parts of it from overheating.

2013 will be all about balance. >> europe is bracing itself for another tough economic year. unemployment is expected to remain high in many countries, and greece has welcomed the new year with new anti-austerity strikes. >> another year, another strike. transport workers in athens are unhappy with pay cuts. this debt ridden country continues its struggle. 2013 promises more pain. the currency is still in danger, but perhaps it might be off the critical list. after europe in list summits, problems are being addressed. mario groggy vowed to underwrite the euro, whatever it takes -- mario draghi. the esm is up and running with

the far wall and there is a move toward banking union. yet across europe, forecasters see little sign of an economic fall. nine of the 17 states will fill the chilling effects of recession. even here in germany, prospects for growth look pretty frigid. elsewhere, it will be much worse. unemployment is growing with all the anger and desperation it brings. in italy, they are taking a plunge, too. a wobbly economy further threatened by elections in february and the prospect of an unlikely political comeback. here in the u.k. there are still fondly remembering the specter of the queen's jubilee and they successfully stage olympics. but good economic news is hard to find.

>> there is really nothing much on the horizon that makes you feel optimistic. it will be a sort of groundhog year for the u.k. economy, much the same as 2012. >> many saw 2012 as being the year european currency unraveled. in 2013, they will struggle with political and social cuts of austerity, and agonizing process of making economies more competitive. it will be another tough year. >> temperatures as low as freezing the not stop some brave new workers from taking a dip on coney island. the polar bear plunges an annual new year's day event. new year's day event.